Vining and walking and a bit of choo choo

Visited Sonoma County today. The rolling hills east of the Pacific are perfect breeding ground for good grapes. The morning mist coming off the Pacific hangs out late cooling the grapes until the sun burns off the fog and the loose clay soil adds flavoring to the fruit. Chemistry of each acre creates a varietal within a type of grape giving the oenophiles something to crow about.

I checked out a few wineries in the region looking for my kind of beverage, that with high residual sugar. Found two.

One winery located at the end of a winding road bordered by large old growth eucalyptus served an amazing 'late harvest sweet wine'.

Founded by a Hungarian migrant in mid 19th century it had the best tasting wine in today's tasting. A nobleman born in Pest migrated in early 19th century seeking to see what the land of the free promised him and ended up in Sonoma where we played with some vine growing importing plants from his native land. Tokaj is a region that creates some amazing fruity wines sold in the US but the local creation was also honey like smooth.

Finishing at Beuna Vista I drove to a spot on a hill called Ravenswood and tried a Moscato that they created. Lighter in sugar but still had a nice finish.

Finally I drove to a German family owned 150 year old spread that did not have any dessert wines but surely had the best views from the property. Here are a few pictures of the drying vines and the just harvested vineyards seen from the vantage atop a hill where the cellars are.

All done I went into town to check out a small narrow gage (diesel powered locomotive engines) train museum and amusement park. Had to feed the kid in me now that the adult was taken care of.

It is an eclectic mix of tiny trains that runs around this space giving families a great gathering spot amidst the clutter of wine shops.

roundhouse with the yard where these little treasures are stored

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